The National Milk Producers Federation welcomed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that it will not finalize air emissions estimating methodologies under the 2005 Animal Feeding Operations Air Compliance Agreement, and that it will move to terminate the agreement. The decision ends more than 20 years of uncertainty for the dairy farms and other livestock operations that volunteered for the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study (NAEMS).
“Dairy farmers signed up for this study in good faith two decades ago, and they’ve been waiting ever since to find out what it would mean for their farms,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “You can’t measure a handful of farms years ago and use those numbers to set expectations for thousands of other farms. We appreciate EPA following the data and giving farmers a clear, final answer.”
The National Pork Producers Council has long pushed for this decision, and America’s pork producers applaud the Trump administration and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for bringing certainty to the country’s farmers by concluding the data are insufficient to support reliable methods. Producers are also thankful for the efforts of Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler in listening to the concerns of America’s small business family farmers on this matter.
NPPC President Rob Brenneman, a farmer from Washington County, Iowa, said, “This move confirms what farmers have long known: Every farm is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all model to apply to them. Each farm should be judged on its own factors, including its location, its practices, its animals and its people. We’re grateful to EPA for listening to the farmers who feed this nation.”
In 2005, EPA entered into an Air Compliance Agreement with livestock and poultry farms and launched the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study to collect data the agency planned to use to develop methods for estimating emissions from farms. Scientists under both Republican and Democratic administrations have criticized the study, with farmers concerned over how those methods ultimately could have affected their operations under federal air regulations if finalized.
U.S. dairy farmers have a long record of continuous environmental improvement, and NMPF will keep working with EPA, USDA, land-grant universities and its member cooperatives to build on that progress.
EPA’s decision marks the second win for dairy farmers in the last week. On Oct. 29, USDA announced $165.5 million in Section 32 dairy purchases, which NMPF welcomed as timely support for demand during a difficult stretch for milk prices.
National Milk Producers Federation news release, National Pork Producers Council news release
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